An Iraqi group has threatened to kill six hostages from India, Kenya and Egypt if a Kuwaiti company they worked for does not withdraw from Iraq.
Al Arabiya television broadcast the tape of what it said were the masked captors and their hostages as they demanded that the company leave Iraq.
They also demanded that India, Kenya and Egypt withdraw their personnel from Iraq.
The kidnappers claim to represent a previously unknown group called Black Flags or Black Banners.
They vowed to behead one hostage every three days if the firm did not comply with their demands.
Ten die in violent incidents
At least four people were killed when a car bomb exploded in a residential neighbourhood in Baghdad today.
The blast occurred down a small side street flanked by low-level apartments in the southeast of the city.
A smouldering wreck of twisted metal, cordoned off by Iraqi police, was all that was left of the car. At least three other cars in the area were damaged.
Also in Baghdad, two people were killed and four wounded when a missile hit the seventh floor of the Adnan Khairallah hospital in the city.
Elsewhere, at least four people were killed and 14 wounded in clashes and a suspected car bomb blast in the centre of Ramadi.
A US military spokesman confirmed that soldiers were battling insurgents in the city, 100km west of Baghdad, but denied there had been a car bombing.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari, has called on neighbouring countries to do more to restore peace and stability in Iraq.
Speaking at the start of a regional security conference in Cairo, Mr Zebari also warned that the violence in Iraq could spill over its borders unless positive action was taken.
The meeting is the first between Iraq and its neighbours since the United States transferred sovereignty to the new Iraqi interim government at the end of last month.
Bulgaria and Poland warned to withdraw troops
In a separate development, a group claiming to be the European wing of al-Qaeda has threatened Bulgaria and Poland with attacks if they do not pull their troops out of Iraq.
The claim from the previously unheard-of group was posted on a website.
It said both countries would face attacks similar to those in Madrid earlier this year and the 2001 attacks in the United States.
